Media

(Note: In view of the train accident that took the lives of more than a hundred passengers and left many more injured who had been travelling by Gnaneswari Express, the railways have been contemplating of postponing train services along that route at night and re-schedule its timings accordingly. In response, the CPI(Maoist) has issued a statement on 29 May 2010 that came out in a Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika published from Kolkata. It was published on 30 May 30, 2010 under the caption 'The Maoists ask the railways to ply trains without fear' in page 7.)

"We were not involved in the sabotage in the railway line. Still we are being falsely implicated in it."

CPI (Maoist) tells the Indian rail authorities to ply their trains

Let the railway authorities ply their trains on schedule. There is nothing to fear. On Saturday, on behalf of the State Committee of the CPI (Maoist), Aakash issued this statement to the press. "We were not involved in the sabotage in the railway line. Still we are being falsely implicated in it. There is no need to stop railway service on the plea of Maoist sabotage. Let the rail authorities ply their trains. Nothing (no harm) will be done from our side".

The Maoists stated: We gave a call for organizing a 'Black Period' from 23 May to 2 June; it was not directed against the railways. Besides price rise and operation by the security forces, it was also directed against the central government policy of selling out shares of public sector undertakings, taking US assistance for the defence sector and the creation of special economic zones. Our aim was to make propaganda and create awareness on these issues among the people. Wearing black badges, organizing processions comprise part of our programme, but there was nothing against the railways. The Maoists claimed: "Whenever there is any programme against the railways or a call for stopping railway services, there is a formal notification much before that date".

NEW DELHI: With Army chief General V K Singh meeting home minister P Chidambaram after the latest incident involving Maoists on Friday, the armed forces are finalizing action plans to meet any contingency if their role in the ongoing anti-Naxalite operations is extended beyond the present training, surveillance and logistical.

"If the government orders us, we will have to step in and take the lead. Drawing up of concrete contingency plans have gained momentum after the Army commanders' conference earlier this month discussed the likely developments and resources required for the anti-Naxalite operations," said a senior officer.

First, the Ms. Quasimodo of Bengal and Indian politics, Mamata Banerjee announces that it was a “bomb blast” with great bombast. Then, Bhupinder Singh, the Police IG and KPSGill-wannabee (who had earlier smeared and lied about Chatradhar Mahato’s insurance, property etc and never bothered to retract anything) says that two posters were found proving that the Maoist PCAPA had taken “responsibility ”for the train disaster. The two posters, it turned out, merely stated the intent of the local PCAPA the reasons for their on-going struggles. Ms. Bomberjee also claimed that a pilot vehicle had passed by just before. She did not state how “before” it was. One hour, two hours, five hours, one day? After the entire place is “infested” with Maoists. Is it not?

Now the tone is changing gradually. A foot and half of fish-plates were found removed. A BBC cameraman has displayed the gap in one of their broadcasts. No evidence of a blast any longer. No evidence of gelatine, dynamite, ammonium nitrate. The foreign press had already expressed some caution, in their statements and terminology. But not the Indian press. They are so free, unfettered and dynamic when it comes to spreading innuendo!

Yesterday's( 28 May 2010) Gnaneshwari Express and a goods train tragedy near Kharagpur in West Bengal in which 80 people were killed and 200 injured was attributed to CPI(Maoist) and Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) by the media. The media unscrupulously played false news stories blaming CPI (Maoist) and Peoples Committee for two days. Some political parties like Trinomial Congress and the ruling CPI(Marxist) also blamed these organisations without any verification. Significantly Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has declined to attribute the blame on the CPI (Maoist) and also announced that there was no evidence of any bomb blast in the incident.

The Union Home Minister has ordered an enquiry to find out any possibility of sabotage. During the day the leaders of CPI (Maoist) clarified through a long statement that they were not responsible for the train tragedy and condemned any possible sabotage work if any force involved behind the incident. They have also expressed their condolences for the families of deceased. The PCAPA also clarified that their activists are not involved in this incident. They suspected the ruling CPI(Marxist) to have been involved in the sabotage desperately trying to tilt the public opinion against the fighting forces.

Purposefully the media did not cover the statement issued by the CPI (Maoist) while playing the false stories and commentaries blaming the CPI (Maoist) for the incident.

2nd Letter from Peoples' Committee Against Police Atrocities to Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) and Lalgarh Mancha

Friends, Hul Johar,

Hope you did receive the letter that we sent to you around the end of this March. We don't have any of your addresses. Moreover, posting the letter is a great problem. Interior villages do not have post offices. Where there is a posting facility, Harmads or the joint forces or both have camped near it. If the bearer of the letter is caught before it is being posted, it is certain that he/she will not return home. This is the scenario of the democratic establishment of Buddha-Chidambaram in today's Jangal Mahal. We believe that there might be a few days' delay, but you will definitely receive this letter.

The continuous false propaganda in the papers and on wireless or on TV about people's movement in the Jangal Mahal is creating a misconception about us amongst you living in urban and suburban areas. Only 10 to 45% of our statements that are coming out almost every day are covered. That too is appended with the adverse comments of a variety of people, from local newsmen to top brass of the administration.

The recent alert regarding use of Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), issued by the gov­ernment in so-called "public interest", has brought into the open what had so far been implicit in its anti-Maoist policy. The purpose of the circular is to intimidate voices of protests and dissent over govern­ment policies, particularly with regard to Operation Green Hunt. The statement criminalises dissent and makes a mockery of the spirit of critical inquiry, which is at the foundation of a strong democracy. As members of civil rights groups, we consider the statement as an attack on civil society and reminiscent of the Emergency era.

New Delhi : The man the Home Ministry chose to inquire into the killing of 76 CRPF personnel by Naxalites in Dantewada last month has a very different opinion of the Naxal problem than that of the Ministry or Home Minister P Chidambaram.

Former BSF Director General E N Rammohan, who submitted his inquiry report to Chidambaram, today said the government must address the "root causes" of the Naxal problem without which counter-insurgency operations would not be successful.

I am writing in the context of the brutal attack of the Orissa police on the peaceful protesters of the POSCO Pratirodh Sangram Samiti in Jagatsinghpur District, Orissa. More than 100 people, including many women, have been injured; those seriously injured are receiving no medical care; the police have burned houses and shops as well as the protesters' tents; and the police are blocking the entry or exit of any person from the area. This kind of atrocity can never be justified. But what makes it doubly criminal is that the Orissa government claims to be doing so as they have rights over the land.

1. I, with my life-long association with tribal affairs, beginning with the troublesome days in Bastar (1968) and having the privilege of being the last Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (1986-1991), am constrained to approach you at a critical time when we are witnessing virtual collapse of the constitutional regime for the tribal people while being attacked and suppressed in a war like situation..

Ms Arundhati Roy's "Walking With The Comrades" (Outlook, March 29, 2010) is one of the finest pieces of political travelogue in the current Indo-English literature. It compares well with the classic socio-political writings about the Chinese Revolution like Red Star Over China, Fan Shen, The Scalpel and the Sword and the like. Any convulsive political event does produce such literature from the pens of sensitive and empathic writers.

That such a piece would create discomfort and unease in the minds of persons who believe and thrive in the status quo is natural. Hence, I am not surprised to read B.G. Verghese's "Daylight At The Thousand-Star Hotel" (Outlook, May 3, 2010). I would not have joined issues with the doyen among Indian journalists but for correcting some of the wrong information he tried to put forward. In polemical writings a certain degree of sarcasm, banter and derision is permitted. I have no problem with that and Ms Roy is highly competent to handle it if she so desires. I felt a bit uneasy with the word "massacre" used by Verghese in his first sentence. Massacre conveys a sense of indiscriminate slaughter of innocent people who may or may not be involved in any conflict. More often than not, it means the killing of a large number of unarmed persons unable to defend themselves against armed marauders.

Koraput/Khammam: Seventeen Adivasi villagers of Samna in Orissa's Narayanpatna block claim that they were brutally assaulted in custody last week, an allegation the police have denied.

According to the villagers, they were picked up on May 9, as part of a joint operation conducted by the Orissa and Andhra Pradesh police along the inter-State border, airlifted to a police station in Andhra Pradesh and held in custody for three days before being released on May 14.

"Uniformed policemen surrounded our village on Sunday morning [May 9], when we were leaving for the market," said Nachika Jaddo, one of those who were picked up. "Seventeen men, including two dokras [old men] were rounded up, beaten up and then dragged to a spot 2 km away."

The villagers were then bundled into a waiting helicopter, blindfolded and flown to the Salur police station in Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh.

Why is it that the largest democracy in the world as India claims to be is undemocratic to some of the most democratic people-the tribals? Why is it that the Indian government since independence has not kept its word with the tribals who believe in the honour of the word?

We the concerned citizens would invite you to a Press Conference by Dr. BD Sharma, the Former Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, someone who has spend more than half his life among the tribals in his tireless endeavour to understand them closely so as to make sure the place for the inherently democratic tribal people in the Indian Union after 1947.

We the undersigned welcome the public statement of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the President of the Congress Party that the extreme neglect of the tribal areas is at the root of the present crisis in those regions. We hope that this appreciation of the need to go deeper into the question would lead to initiatives for immediate cessation of hostilities and dialogue so that the process of people-oriented development can be made feasible.

by Geraldina Colotti for the Italian daily Il Manifesto. (Translation by the International Department of the CARC Party)

1) May you give me some biographical and professional information about you? Which is your current political role? Do you live and work in Andhra Pradesh State?

Ans: I started my social activism during my student days, starting from 1989. I was associated with a revolutionary student movement called Radical Students' Union (RSU) which originated in 1980 in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This student body mobilized hundreds of thousands of students on all social and political issues along with that pertaining to students and educational institutions. It gave the historic call of 'Go to Villages' to the students. This call actually revolutionised the urban spaces in Andhra Pradesh. This organization was banned by the government in 1991. A number of revolutionary student leaders were killed in cold blood by the police/armed forces of the state. Later on I started working in an anti-imperialist organisation formed at the all India level called All India Peoples' Resistance Forum (AIPRF). This anti-imperialist organization worked to mobilize hundreds and thousands of people all over the country in major rallies and demonstrations against Dunkel draft, WTO, suicide deaths of farmers, against imperialist wars and all other major pro-imperialist policies of Indian rulers. The AIPRF in 2005 merged with other similar organisations to form Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF). It is a federation of revolutionary people's organizations like workers, peasants, youth, students, women and revolutionary cultural organizations across India in 13 states. In most states, its members and main functionaries are arrested and incarcerated. Hundreds of its functionaries either suffer in prisons or work in different forms. But it still works among the people vigorously. Its members are being branded as having links with CPI (Maoist) just because it also believes in revolutionary transformation of Indian Society. But then an overwhelming majority of the Subcontinent does so.

Presently our organization is involved in mobilizing democratic voices against a major military offensive that the Government of India (GOI) has initiated on the indigenous people of the country, called the Operation Green Hunt (OGH).

I am an assistant professor of literature at the University of Delhi. I originally come from Andhra Pradesh but for the last one decade am settled in New Delhi.

2) What are the activities of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India?

Ans. This front, as has been mentioned above, is a federation of revolutionary mass organizations working at grassroots level. While each of the constituent organizations works among the various sections of the people on their issues, to revolutionise them as per the understanding of New Democratic Revolution (NDR), the front focuses on larger political issues pertaining to all these sections at state and country-wide level.

It is utterly painful for us to inform you that another bloodbath is ready to take place in the name of Development in Jharkhand. A corporate house "Bhushan Steel and Power Limited" is going to conducted "Bhumi Pujan" (format inauguration) of its project on May 16, 2010. The company has singed an MoU with the Jharkhand government on 7 September, 2006 for establishing an integrated steel plant of 3 Mt and 900 MW power plant with the estimated investment of 10,500 crore. Since, a strong People's Movement against the land acquisition for steel and power plants of the Bhushan Steel and Power Limited has been going on at Potka of East Singbhum district in Jharkhand since 2006. Consequently, the company was unable to materialize its project.

BHUBANESWAR: With Orissa government mobilising forces to start forest survey and land acquisition at the proposed plant site of Posco-India near Paradip, the anti-displacement agitators are planning a rally to be addressed by CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan on May 19.

Jagatsinghpur district collector N C Jena and Superintendent of Police Debadutta Singh confirmed that mobilisation of forces were taking place.

"We have mobilised forces in view of the law and order situation in the area. How can the agitators deny government servants and police entry to the area?" Jena told PTI.

About 25 platoons (750 personnel) of armed police have been deployed as well as ambulances and fire tenders in the area.

Jajpur (Orissa), May 13 (PTI) Anti-land acquisition agitators today kept a vigil over Chandia village in Kalinga Nagar steel hub, where a tribal died and 24 others were injured during a clash between protestors and police.

Activists and supporters of Bisthapan Birodhi Jana Manch (BBJM), the body protesting displacement of tribals, were guarding the village and not allowing anybody to enter, police said.

Meanwhile, the body of Laxman Jamuda (55), killed during the clash yesterday, was handed over to a relative after post-mortem, said his nephew Lalmohan.

Jajpur, May 12: At least one person was killed and several injured in police firing in Kalinga Nagar steel hub today.

The decaesed was identified as Laxman Jamuda, a resident of Chandia village. Police fired at least 10 rounds, sources said.

Police opened fire when villagers opposing establishment of a steel plant by Tata Steel and construction of a common corridor road in the locality came out to oppose the entry on policemen into their villages.

Bastar (Chhattisgarh): A fierce battle is raging along the Indrawati river in Central India. On one side of the river are deployed the para military forces of the Indian state. On the other side, in dense forest, are the Maoist guerrillas.

The Indian militia calls the battle, operation 'Green Hunt', which is aimed at flushing out the Maoists from the mineral rich forest land so that Indian and multinational corporations can fatten their bottom line by exploiting iron ore, coal and bauxite. The Maoists are fighting to protect the 40,000 square kilometers of dense forest land known as Dandakaranya from these marauding companies.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to send a team of rights activists, at this stage, to Chhattisgarh to look into complaints of rights violations. Instead, it directed the State government to submit a report on the action taken on the findings of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

What steps have been taken?

A Bench comprising Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma and B.C. Chauhan said: “As regards the implementation of the NHRC Report, the government is directed to file a detailed report as to what steps have so far been taken regarding the registration of various criminal cases and the progress made in the various criminal cases which are already pending in courts.”

Civil society groups and individuals have reacted sharply to the Home Ministry's statement warning severe punishment to anyone found supporting the Maoists by propagating their ideology or collaborating with them.

Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba described it as a clear violation of democratic rights of individuals and civil society groups, many of whom, he said, held political views similar to those of the Maoists though they had no link with the ultras. "There is a possibility of misuse of power as views of people who are against the government's policies may be interpreted as propaganda for the CPI(Maoist)", he remarked.

Saibaba, who is often seen with civil society groups opposing the government's anti-Maoist security operation, said the MHA directive directly violated the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the constitution.

Mahipal Singh, national secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a leading organization fighting against infringement of civil and democratic rights, said holding a political view and political ideology was no crime, even if it was the Maoist ideology.

Condemn the blatant communal prejudice in the matter of delaying the release of Mr. Mirza Iftikhar Hussain!

We condemn the harassment of Dr. SAR Geelani who has been targeted for a criminal prosecution on the basis of false and extraneous considerations.

The Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) takes strong exception to the way the media has voiced the story of Dr. SAR Geelani facing criminal proceedings for "furnishing false information" to the court. Given the vitiated atmosphere that media trials have generated, particularly the prejudice caused to those who belong to a certain community , it is important to bring forth certain facts which squarely expose the patent lies that have been carried in the media regarding the case slapped on Dr. SAR Geelani.

(The following is a compilation of important news reports related to the Home Ministry's statement directed towards intellectuals and civil society organisations)

The Government of India has warned what it calls "sympathisers" of the Maoists / Naxalites in the country that they face action under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The state's warning that it can take such action simply means that the expectation of inquiry and dialogue into the causes underlying Maoist / Naxalite programmes is a misplaced one.

New Delhi, May 6: The Centre today issued a public warning to social workers, artists and authors with whom it suspects Maoists are in touch and threatened them with arrest if they helped the banned rebels in their propaganda.

The move is exceptional in that such a public warning through a media note has probably never been made even against fundamentalist outfits.

The press note, issued by the Union home ministry, described the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its frontal organisations as terrorists "whose sole aim is armed overthrow of the Indian state and that they have no place in India's parliamentary democracy". The note warns the public against assuming that the Maoists are a political outfit and asks them to be treated like terrorists.

NEW DELHI: Those who speak in favour of Maoist guerrillas will face legal action and 10 years imprisonment, the government announced Thursday in a warning to civil society groups who raise voices in favour of Leftwing extremism.

"Any person who commits the offence of supporting such a terrorist organisation (like Communist Party of India (CPI)-Maoist) with inter alia intention to further the activities of such terrorist organisations would be liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or with fine or with both," a home ministry statement said.

It said such action would be taken under Section 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

This is to inform you that the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government of India has been monitoring my activities almost everyday, which I got to know from an officer of the Ministry who visited to my office at 11 AM on 29th of April 2010. He informed me that I was taken seriously by the Ministry in 2008 when I had started raising serious questions against the Arcelor Mittal Company, who has signed an MoU for 12 Mt Steel Plant with the investment of Rs. 40,000 crore. Mr. Arjun Munda then the Chief Minister of Jharkhand had shown it as the biggest achievement of his one-year tenure. We the Adivasi youth had protested under the banner of Jharkhand Indigenous People’s Forum against a tie-up between the DON BOSCO ITI and Arcelor Mittal Company. Consequently, they had to break the tie-up.

New Delhi, May 5 (PTI) Union Home Minister P Chidambaram was tonight greeted with slogans and black flags by a group of students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University here over the government's approach to combat the Maoists.

Chidambaram arrived at the JNU campus at around 9:30 pm to attend an anti-Maoist programme organised by NSUI, the students' wing of Congress, at the School of Social Sciences auditorium.

Activists belonging to All India Students Association (AISA) and Democratic Students Union (DSU) shouted slogans against the Home Minister outside the auditorium as he reached the venue.

Dantewada: "Is there anyone in this room from Kadampal village?" asked presiding officer Emil Lakra at the environmental public hearing held at the Collector's office in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. "Anyone from Cholnar? Hiroli? Goomiapal? Madari?"

Not a single project-affected person stood up, but the hearing for the expansion of mining operations of the National Mineral Development Corporation's Kirandul project continued regardless. NMDC officials briskly went through a power-point presentation filled with tables, bullet-points and contour maps as the gathering of about 50 women and 10 men, collected by the NMDC and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, watched mutely.

In protest against the mounting atrocities and assaults on people and their democratic rights ever since the UPA-2 Government came into power at the Centre almost a year ago with Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister, a dharna was organized by civil and democratic rights organizations, people's organizations, students organizations, trade unions at the Jantar Mantar on the 4th May 2010.

While addressing the dharna many of the speakers talked about the increasing detention, incarceration and witch hunt of various activists and leaders of people's organizations. Many of the speakers pointed about the complicity of the media in this vicious campaign of the Indian state to stifle all voices of dissent. Among the speakers who addressed included Neelabh, progressive writer, GN Saibaba Forum Against War on People, Mrigank of the Nav Jawan Bharat Sabha, Shoma Sen CAVOW, Arjun Prasad Singh, PDFI, advocate Rajesh Tyagi, Anees Campus Front of India, Vijendra JNU Forum Against War on People, Munishwar CPDM etc.

All struggles in defence of land, of mineral resources, for defense of democratic rights are the targets of the government. Anyone who are daring to raise their voice against the anti-people, pro-corporate, policies of the government have become the target of state repression in the form of an undeclared emergency.

Natural resources in the country are under threat as vast tracts of land, forest and water reserves are being handed over to Indian affiliates of international finance capital under cover of the eminent domain doctrine, or the state's pre-eminent ownership of land, Binayak Sen, human rights activist and vice-president of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, said on Monday.

Dr. Sen cited Chhattisgarh as an example of the dispossession phenomena to illustrate how the hold exercised by the poor over their resources was increasingly coming under challenge with industrial and economic development.

On March 30, they tried yet again to crush this non-violent movement. Since then, tribal villages in Kalinganagar in Orissa are under siege by the police, in symphony with "Tata goons" - as locals call them - and ruling party (BJD) supporters. 'Outsiders' are not allowed to get in, people are not allowed to move out. Food, medicine, relatives, journalists, civil society groups, nobody is allowed. BJP leader Jual Oram and Congress leaders were attacked by "BJD-Tata goons"; three journalists were beaten up badly when they tried to record this attack, their cameras smashed, their valuables looted.

Here's a report by independent journalists from the ground, confirmed by activists and documentary filmmakers from Orissa who spoke to Hardnews during the Independent People's Tribunal held in Delhi from April 9 to 11: "The March 30 attack was the culmination of months of sporadic aggression by the police and Tata goons. That day the police simply did not try to maintain law and order, rather they first sprayed rubber bullets and plastic pellets on the tribals, entered Baligotha village, set food-stocks afire, poured kerosene in the wells, killed cattle, vandalised the memorials of the martyrs of January 2, 2006 police shootout, looted valuables, stole livestock and destroyed all sorts of electronic machines like TVs, DVD players, sewing machines, etc...